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Rat snake with RI

Tyger9791
02-13-2006, 01:42 PM
I know this is a cornsnake forum, but rats are closely related to corns...any help would be greatly appreciated...
On Thursday, I checked on Shadow, my grey rat, to see if he had shed yet. I did not feed him on Tuesday because he was in blue. He had not shed yet on Thursday, but i noticed that when he breathed he had a bit of a rattle sound coming from him. He also sounded kind of weezey. the beginnings of an RI i'm afraid...i upped the temps in his tank as Kathy Love's book suggests.
Unfortunately, the weather here is very cold. outside it was down in the 20s this morning. i'm trying my hardest to keep the temps in his tank up in the 88-92 range. he has a UTH with a rheostat and i'm measuring the temps with a digital thermometer with a probe.
Today, i checked on him, and he still appears like he needs to shed, his eyes arent milky blue anymore. but his skin is fairly dry. should i attempt to soak him? or will this aggravate his RI?
he also wont eat. i tried to feed him today but i dont think he's able to eat. he's breathing through his mouth. how long can he go without food? he's only a few months old.
should i take him to a vet or just wait a week to let the RI work out of his system?

dionythicus
02-13-2006, 03:17 PM
I have noticed one or two of mine that "mouth breathe" right before a shed and have freaked me out, thinking it was an RI. Is he blowing bubbles when he breathes, through mouth or nose? Is his nose kind of crusty from discharge? If there are no bubbles and no obvious discharge from the nostrils, you can wait a day or two to see if he sheds and still shows signs of an RI. At that point, taking him to a vet is a good idea. If it is an RI, getting him on antibiotics ASAP can make all the difference. He can go a few weeks without food, even as a baby, so I wouldn't be too worried about that right now.

Tyger9791
02-13-2006, 03:35 PM
He's not blowing bubbles yet..but i can hear a clicking sound when he breathes.
i'll wait a few days to see if he improves. if he doesnt, then i'll take him to the vet to get him some antibiotics. my biggest worry is him not eating. he seems sooo puny compared to my corns.

dawnrenee2000
02-16-2006, 04:37 PM
I read your post from a few days ago and Just wanted to check and see how your little guys was doing? One of my king snakes got an RI that developed right after she was shipped to me so I have been dealing with it for the last month or so too.

Hope all is well.

:)

Tyger9791
02-20-2006, 04:41 PM
he's doing much better. thankfully, it must have been a mild case, or i caught it before it got serious. he spent a week in a dry environment and he ate yesterday. i didnt hear any more clicking or wheezing from him today. and he shed his skin last week as well. it was a bad shed though. he got his head off, but i had to soak him in warm water and use a towel to get the rest off. must have been due to the dry environment. and i didnt give him a humid hide. i was afraid that the moisture would allow the RI to worsen. but he's doing much better.